STATS: Are Chelsea the most ‘boring’ Premier League champions ever?

Premier League champions Chelsea suffered only their third defeat of the season last night as they went down 3-0 to West Brom at The Hawthorns having played for 62 minutes with ten men after Cesc Fabregas was sent off for kicking the ball at Chris Brunt.

Over the course of their last 15 games, Chelsea have only won one of them by more than a one-goal margin. They have also only managed to score more than once in a game just three times out of their last 13 matches.

Because of these numbers and the way the Blues have approached games in the past few months, it has led to questions from fans and the media over whether or not Jose Mourinho‘s side are boring.

The jibes of being boring fully surfaced when Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium ironically sang ‘boring, boring Chelsea’, which is of course a famous chant that was aimed at the Gunners during the George Graham era in which the Gunners used to play defensively and knick a goal on the break.

Arsenal fans have since jokingly chanted ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ when their side have been winning by playing entertaining football – most notably in the Invincibles season of 2003/04.

Arsene Wenger‘s side scored still only scored 73 goals in that season, while Chelsea have scored 70 goals in the 2014/15 campaign with one game still to play.

The lowest amount of goals scored by a title winning Premier League side was Manchester United in 2008/09 and Arsenal in the 1997/98 season in which both teams scored 68 goals.

There have been 20 campaigns since the Premier League changed from 42 games-per-season to 38 and this current Chelsea side will be the third lowest scoring side to have won the title unless they can score at least three more goals on the last day at home to Sunderland.

Despite the criticism, Blues fans will care little as they’ve won the league and that’s all that matters now. They will also point to the first half of the season where they played excellent football which essentially secured the title.

Chelsea were in-fact the league’s highest goalscorers until the 26th game and they will feel that they earned the right to play in a more cautious but efficient manner since then given their significant points lead.

The hallmark of all Mourinho’s sides is that they’re compact and strong defensively with a sprinkling of excellent flare players going forward, such as this season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Eden Hazard.

It’s also worth noting that Chelsea do currently hold the record for most goals scored in a Premier League season – the 103 goals they scored on the way to 2009/10 championship is one better than Manchester City’s tally of 102 last season.